We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Raymond Salvador. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Raymond below.
Raymond, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a story that illustrates an important or relevant lesson you learned in school
The most important thing I’ve ever learned—is to learn. Not only to acquire knowledge but HOW to acquire it. To actively observe something and understand, or at least attempt to understand it. To look at something, dissect it, inspect it, and know it so well that you can completely rebuild it. Or even build it into something better.
I teach a Comic Book Art Class For Kids on the weekends and in Summer School or After School programs. One of the first things I show my students is that they have already learned a ton about making comics-simply by reading them! We all learn things about the creation of the art we consume when we consume it. People who choose to create art, whether we make comics, movies, music, or whatever, usually take in a ton of that type of art and whether we like it or not we naturally absorb and then use creative techniques we’ve intrinsically learned from those creators. Especially if it resonates with us.
This is an amazing creative tool for all of us, even creators outside of art! The problem however, comes in when we don’t know WHY we’re doing these specific techniques and use them without that knowledge. This can lead to nonsensical plot points, images that instill emotions into the reader that are not part of the artist’s intention, and all sorts of other issues. It’s like a person who has watched videos of fixing a car radiator then thinking they could build a a whole engine. You can only construct an entire engine (that works well) when you’ve learned what each part does, where each bolt goes, what tools to use, etc. It the same with storytelling, especially visual storytelling-great content comes from master mechanics.
I leaned this lesson from several things that happened to me throughout school. Some positive and some negative. One situation was when a teacher was yelling at the class because everyone failed a test. I was immediately suspicious. Everyone failed? Everyone!? Even the top students failed. This was sending up red flags for me. As the teacher went on and on about it she mentioned that ALL of her classes failed! Whoa! How is that possible!? Every student in all of her classes, including two of the top five students in the whole school! So I asked her about it. She was stunned. I pointed out that it’s impossible that everyone failed the test, especially the A+ students. There HAD TO be something wrong. This is how I learned that If every student fails the test then there is something wrong with what they were taught, how they were taught, or who taught them.
This changed how I examined what we were being taught not only by teachers, but by TV, by news media, movies, comics, books, advertisements, everything! Dissecting all of these things is learning how they work, why they work or don’t work, and how to make them yourself!
Raymond, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I learned how to read before the first grade because my mom read comics to me. She noticed that I was beginning to recognize words and taught them to me. She says she didn’t really need to work that hard. I was eager and ready to read them! By the time I was four I told her that I was going to make comics when I grew up… and now I do. It hasn’t been an easy journey but I am finally where I always knew I’d be.
The stories in my comics range from science fiction to sword and sorcery, from superheroes to slice-of-life. Many of them navigate multiple genres. These tales are inspired by mainstream and independent comics, novels, movies, old school video games, fashion, my life experiences, and the life experiences of those around me. It is showcased in both the art and the writing, something I feel that you can see on both. It’s all about my unending love of comics and stories of all types and my super obsessive nerd brain that has collected decades of culture.
My stories feature characters that have their complete lives written down—even though all those stories don’t hit the page. They have complicated psychological profiles and detailed histories in order for my readers to experience them as real people. Even though the character might be a supervillain from the 1960’s. This makes them more relatable or more dislikable depending on who the reader is. With something like superhero stories from the sixties my objective is to make them look, feel, and sound like they were made in the time they are depicting-while also throwing in HEAVY scoops of real world problems from that era. Without sugar coating. Superheroes that deal with the rampant classism, racism, sexism, homophobia, corruption, and societies complacency with all of that. I want these comics to reflect on that time in comics but also hold a mirror to the world of that time. Maybe through both of those lenses we may get a better perspective on where we are now.
I have been building many of these universes for over 30 years! I have extensive files, notebooks, sketchbooks and spreadsheets with all their info! I’ve worked on them when I was homeless and when I had three jobs, when I was happy and when I was in deep depression. These worlds have been under construction no matter what was going on, sometimes despite my circumstances, sometimes because of them. The work continues to this very day where I dive into many different disciplines in order to shape my creative endeavors, I have not only studied comics, but filmmaking, mythology, folklore, psychology, criminology, history, science, theoretical sciences, fashion design, architectural design, mechanical design, and fine art… all to inform my little comic books!
In the end, it’s about my love of all these things and my desire to tell stories, share what I have learned, and hopefully make something that might help even one person, whether it’s through something they read, something they saw, or something they felt. I want to give back the love and hope and joy that comic books gave to me. I couldn’t be happier to be crafting these worlds into stories so that people can have fun reading them!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I grew up in an apartment that often didn’t have heat or electricity in south Brooklyn. From my bedroom window I had a view of both the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers each morning as I woke up on the top bunk. This is the kinda beauty and convenience in a living situation that is in high demand. So when the first wave of gentrification came to Brooklyn it saw many of us native New Yorkers thrown out onto the streets. We were in and out of homelessness for many years. I attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. Two of the years I was there I was homeless. I was tired of living this way and did something about it: I got one job, then another. Got my first apartment at 17, dropped out of school and got a third job in order to pay the rent. My twenties was a struggle towards stability. Once I was in my thirties, I had that stability. The best person I have ever met married me and I have never been more happy than I am now. I can not believe how happy I am. I never thought I’d find someone, nevertheless finding someone who fits so perfectly with me. We even make comic books together!
I have survived homelessness, verbal abuse, psychological abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. It has been a very hard journey. But I am here. I worked hard, I fought, I gave up, I got back up, I got knocked down again, but I got back up again. I lost a nephew to suicide and I definitely dealt with those thoughts myself. If I had done what he did when I was his age I would not have seen the blossoming of all the seeds I planted. I wouldn’t have experienced all these good times. I wouldn’t be living my dream life. But I am here.
My whole life has been a story of resilience.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Drawing and writing has always been there, like I said before. These characters where running around in my mind since childhood —but I had to pay rent, and bills. So it couldn’t be my main focus, but it was always there. At a certain point in 2017 I was working full time in retail. Looking forward to growing in that company. One day it kinda hit me that I had let my dream fall to the wayside in order to pay rent. At this point we were financially stable enough for me to spend more time on creating. I started working on my art harder than ever before. To get to place where it looked how I wanted it to. There were character designs, profiles, and everything I needed to just start putting together some comics! So I did! I started an instagram to promote my comics, gain an audience, and make friends in the underground comic community.
The more I made the more fans I got. The more fans, the more sales! People started to love what I was creating. It’s a small group but I love my fans! They are amazing. I am always happy when someone reaches out to tell me that something has resonated with them in someway. Our brand Nostomo Ave Studios continues to grow. This year, my wife and I tabled at the Artist Alley at New York Comic Con! A major achievement in our field! I couldn’t be more proud of our work and how far we’ve come!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NostromoAveStudio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radiatorsavior
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/radiator_savior
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/raymondsalvador